Sausages, wieners, and the like are conventionally made by extruding a meat emulsion into an elongated hollow cylindrical casing. The casing is then rotated and twisted at given intervals to create a chain or string of linked casings with each linked casing encompassing a single sausage or wiener. This string of linked casings is conventionally deposited on a conveyor device and taken to a smoke house where the encased meat emulsion is cooked. Then, before the sausage or wieners are packaged for sale to the consumer, the casing material is removed from the cooked meat emulsion. Devices which remove the casing material are commonly referred to as "peelers" in the industry.
Existing peelers typically use steam to loosen the casing material from the cooked meat emulsion; a knife element thereupon slits the casing material; and a blast of compressed air is sometimes used to cause the casing material to be removed from the cooked and finished meat product.
Existing peelers have certain shortcomings. First of all, the knife elements used for the slitting operation often cut too deep and damage the cooked meat emulsion. Further, the knife elements are not adapted to slice adequately the casing at the ends of the sausage or wieners where the adjacent products are linked. As a result, the casing material must be torn from the cooked product at the ends thereof where the casing has not been effectively sliced.
In addition, with existing peelers, it is sometimes difficult to separate or pull the casing material from the ends of a sausage or wiener by virtue of the geometry of the product at the linked portions between individual linked products. This difficulty flows from the fact that the casing material being removed is not being pulled at a right angle with respect to the surface of the meat product.
A further shortcoming of existing peelers is that while steam is used to loosen the casing material from the cooked product, the product and the components engaging the product are often heated to a relatively high temperature, but less than 150.degree. F. or so. Thus, even with steam entering existing peelers at a temperature of 180.degree. F. or above, heat losses experienced in these devices permit the effective temperature of the meat product and the equipment to fall below the 150.degree. F. level. The problem that this creates is that bacteria thrive in this heated condition up to 150.degree. F. or so, and this compounds the cleaning responsibilities for the machine and in some cases could contaminate the food product.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a method and means for removing casings from sausages or the like which has a cutting blade that will not damage the meat product while the casing is being sliced;
A further object of this invention is to provide a method and means for removing casings from sausages or the like wherein the encased linked meat product can have the casing material effectively sliced at the ends thereof as well as throughout the length thereof;
A still further object of this invention is to provide a method and means for removing casings from sausages or the like wherein force is exerted on the linked product to expel the product from the casing material and to maintain the casing material being removed at an efficient angle of departure from the meat product to enhance the casing removal phenomena.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a method and means for removing casings from sausages or the like wherein steam is propelled through the conduit carrying the linked product to be peeled, and the temperature of the steam is retained within tee apparatus throughout the peeling operation to a level above 150.degree. F. to sanitize the product and the equipment, and to prevent the steam from surrounding the environment of the apparatus.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a method and means for removing casings from sausages or the like wherein the peeling apparatus can be easily disassembled without tools; and where the entire machine is sanitary and easily cleaned, including the outside surface thereof, none of which are horizontal so as to provide immediate and automatic drainage.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.